On The Train (Lentang, Raub, Kuala Lipis and Pulau Chekas), June 14, 2010

It was another wedding weekend for me and I took two days off to rejuvenate and recuperate in preparation as well as aftermath of the wedding. We left the house early on Friday morning and I detoured to Hutan Lipur Lentang for a bit of R&R. The cool mountain and waterfall did wonders to my well being. Kak Cik, Mar and I were in the water as soon as we had our ‘breakfast’. The place was well kept and maintained by the authority to make our present there even better. I walked around and concluded that it is one of the potential for our next camping trip. I even found a potential track for offroad cycling.

We reached Gali Tengah around 1500 to rest a bit before I decided to go to KL (Kuala Lipis) for something. Actually my dear wife wanted to buy tights for her cycling. Well, it is always like that for us and small towns Malaysia. We always seems able to find what we need in small towns like Kuala Lipis, Kuala Pilah, Tapah, etc. In the case of Kuala Lipis I found my favourite sandal sold there as well. So at around 1730 we were in Kuala Lipis already. As I stepped out of the Ranger I realised I had a good evening light for a good photography. I took few shots of the old building along the main street of Kuala Lipis. As my wife walked along towards the shop I snapped at will and after getting her things we walked further on and I was presented with a classic. A classic vintage old bicycle that is at one bicycle shop. It was priced at RM300 and I was tempted to just grab it and take it home as souvenir. But then I remembered I already had two bikes at the back of the Ranger and adding another one will indeed posted a problem for us. At least now I know where to get one.

Once when we thought we had explored enough we walked back to our Ranger and when I was inside I realised there were a lot of people coming towards us from the bus stand. I said to my wife maybe there’s a Pasar Malam there and I decided to drive there to check. It was indeed our lucky day as it was indeed a Kuala Lipis Pasar Malam in progress. Without prompting I parked and walked towards the area to further explore. A very nice surprised indeed. In the end we were only back home at my mum’s at around 1930.

Saturday was a full wedding day for my cousin and we were busy doing our things since 1000. It was a hot tiring day and fun day for everyone.

On Sunday I decided to take everyone to cool off at Pulau Chekas waterfall which was not that far away from my kampung. I woke early and headed for the Raub Pasar Minggu to buy something for our picnic. Early as I was the Pasar Minggu was already bustling with buying and selling. I just grabbed whatever I thought we needed and headed back. Knowing we could be late if we dilly daly I gave an ultimatum to everyone that I was leaving at 0830 and anybody not ready by then will be left behind. It was really effective as I got everyone interested stirring up rushing to the bathrooms. With nothing much to pack at 0827 we left for Pulau Chekas and reached it 20 minutes later.

When we arrived we were greeted by the worst possible scenario. The place although almost empty was a rubbish dump taking the glow out of the beautiful rocks and the river. It was really pathetic and I was ashamed being a Pahang boy then. How could have they treated the place like that. Not only we have not many of such places now we are trying our best to spoil what we have. I really am sick the fault behaviour and attitude. It is beyond comprehension to me. As we walked in to find a good spot for us we saw a young kompang group camping in the middle of the compound. They were thumping their kompang in earnest when we walked by. The place is called Pulau Chekas because the river split into two directions before coming together again at downturn creating an island in the middle. The island, at it’s edges is where you can find some of the best picnic area. At one of spots that we decided to camp.

We had breakfast first and then leading the rest I jumped into the cold water. It was cold just a moment until our body blood system regulate the temperature to make it pleasant to swim. I was hoping I could stay the whole day in the water but I know I could not. In the end due to several unrelated events we left the place early satisfied.